Q.No. 19 (4 × 1 = 4 Marks)
A syllable is the next higher unit to a speech sound and forms a word or part of a word. It contains one (and only one) vowel sound (not letter). The number of consonant sounds in a syllable may be ‘Zero to Seven’.
A word may have one syllable or more.
- Words with one syllable each are called monosyllabic words.
- Words with two syllables each are called disyllabic words.
- Words with three syllables each are called trisyllabic words.
- Words with more than three syllables each are called polysyllabic words.
The, number of vowel sounds in a word gives us the number of syllables in that word. By noticing the vowel symbols in the phonetic transcript of a given word, we can arrive at the number of syllables in that word. Look at the following examples :
pen / pen only one vowel sound – one syllable – monosyllabic paper / peips (r) / two vowel sounds – two syllables – disyllabic gravity / graeviti / three vowel sounds – three syllables – trisyllabic.
discovery / dɪˈskʌvɚɹi / four vowel sounds – four syllables – poly (tetra) syllabic, organization / ˌɔːrɡənəˈzeɪʃən / five vowel sounds – five syllables – poly (penta) syllabic.
There are, however, certain words in which the number of vowel sounds is not equal to the number of syllables. Look at the following examples :
brittle / ˈbɹɪtl̩ / only ong vowel sound – but two syllables
prism / pnzm / only one vowel sound – but two syllables
mutton / mAtn / only one vowel sound – but two syllables
The reason for this variation is that the consonant sounds / l /, / m / and / n / help form a syllable. These sounds in such words are, therefore, called syllabic consonants.
Examine some more examples of this kind :
Careful observation of phonetic transcription or correct pronunciation of words will help students find out the number of syllables in a given word.
Contents
- 0.1 Exercise – A
- 0.2 Exercise – B
- 0.3 Exercise – 1
- 0.4 Answer:
- 0.5 Exercise – 2
- 0.6 Answer:
- 0.7 Exercise – 3
- 0.8 Answer:
- 0.9 Exercise – 4
- 0.10 Answer:
- 0.11 Exercise – 5
- 0.12 Answers:
- 0.13 Exercise – 6
- 0.14 Answer:
- 0.15 Exercise – 7
- 0.16 Answer:
- 0.17 Exercise – 8
- 0.18 Answer:
- 0.19 Exercise – 9
- 0.20 Answer:
- 1 Exercise – 10
Exercise – A
In the following table four categories of words are given. Read them aloud paying attention to the syllabic division.
| S.No. | Words with one syllable | Words with two syllables | Words with three syllables | Words with four or more syllables |
| 1. | life | en-gage | te-le-phone | in-sti-tu-tion |
| 2. | pen | suf-fer | po-ta-to | clas-si-fi-cation |
| 3. | two | teach-er | ba-che-lor | e-du-ca-tion |
| 4. | try | mat-ter | am-bu-lance | com-pe-ti-tion |
| 5. | hat | spi-der | in-va-lid | math-e-ma-tics |
| 6. | quite | to-day | com-pu-ter | con-gra-tu-late |
| 7. | light | an-swer | con-tem-plate | in-tel-li-gence |
| 8. | fly | eng-lish | de-scrip-tive | ci-vi-li-za-tion |
| 9. | few | fa-ther | re-pre-sent | he-li-co-pter |
| 10. | bet | don-key | re-mem-ber | ob-serv-a-to-ry |
Exercise – B
Read the words in the table and write the number of syllables in the columns. Look up the words in a dictionary to check your answers. The first one has been done for you.
| Word | Number of Syllables | Word | Number of Syllables | Word | Number of Syllables |
| Sunday | 2 | apology | 4 | examine | 3 |
| question | 2 | history | 3 | bun | 1 |
| fixation | 3 | manager | 3 | student | 2 |
| college | 2 | paper | 2 | instrumental | 4 |
| grammar | 2 | but | 1 | monday | 2 |
| immoral | 3 | glass | 1 | doctor | 2 |
| time | 1 | policy | 3 | intelligent | 4 |
| feather | 2 | food | 1 | example | 3 |
| near | 1 | present | 2 | bright | 1 |
| go | 1 | phone | 1 | syllabus | 3 |
| ugly | 2 | property | 3 | agitation | 4 |
| create | 2 | persistent | 3 | criticism | 3 |
| application | 4 | ant | 1 | resolution | 4 |
| complain | 2 | particular | 4 | mother | 2 |
| cricketer | 3 | bachelor | 3 | beautiful | 3 |
| sorry | 2 | anaesthesia | 5 | discussion | 3 |
| fate | 1 | honour | 2 | fan | 1 |
| employee | 3 | amplification | 5 | fight | 1 |
Mention the number of syllables in the following words.
Exercise – 1
i) misery
ii) direction
iii) remember
iv) information
v) encourage
vi) excellent
Answer:
i) 3 trisyllabic
ii) 3 – trisyllabic
iii) 3 – trisyllabic
iv) 4 – polysyllabic
v) 3 – trisyllabic
vi) 3 – trisyllabic
Exercise – 2
i) person
ii) weakness
iii) dark
iv) thought
v) fact
vi) discipline
Answer:
i) 2 – disyllabic
ii) 2 – disyllabic
iii) 1 – monosyllabic
iv) 1 – monosyllabic
v) 1 – monosyllabic
vi) 3 – trisyllabic
Exercise – 3
i) lawyer
ii) literacy
iii) square
iv) harbinger
v) adamant
vi) muse
Answer:
i) 2 – disyllabic
ii) 4 – polysyllabic
iii) 1 – monosyllabic
iv) 3 – trisyllabic
v) 3 – trisyllabic
vi) 1 – monosyllabic
Exercise – 4
i) before
ii) doctor
iii) mother
iv) imagination
v) essence
vi) quarter
Answer:
i) 2 – disyllabic
ii) 2 – disyllabic
iii) 2 – disyllabic
iv) 5 – polysyllabic
v) 2 – disyllabic
vi) 2 – disyllabic
Exercise – 5
i) glance
ii) propel
iii) silence
iv) realize
v) excitement
vi) climax
Answers:
i) 1 – monosyllabic
ii) 2 – dissyllabic
iii) 2 – disyllabic
iv) 2 – disyllabic / 3 – tnsyllabic
v) 3 – trisyllabic
vi) 2 – disyllabic
Exercise – 6
i) understand
ii) decision
iii) shout
iv) supremely
v) encouragement
vi) flashlight
Answer:
i) 3 – trisyllabic
ii) 3 – trisyllabic
iii) 1 – monosyllabic
iv) 3 – trisyllabic
v) 4 – polysyllabic
vi) 2 – disyllabic
Exercise – 7
i) pension
ii) source
iii) confer
iv) captivate
v) modest
vi) contribution
Answer:
i) 2 – disyllabic
ii) 1 – monosyllabic
iii) 2 – disyllabic
iv) 3 – trisyllabic
v) 2 – disyllabic
vi) 4 – polysyllabic
Exercise – 8
1) popular
ii) today
iii) side
iv) plant
v) rainwater
vi) condition
Answer:
i) 3 – trisyllabic
ii) 2 – disyllabic
iii) 1 – monosyllabic
iv) 1 – monosyllabic
v) 3 – trisyllabic
vi) 3- trisyllabic
Exercise – 9
i) punctual
ii) increase
iii) room
iv) mantelpiece
v) breakfast
vi) gracious
Answer:
i) 2 – disyllabic
ii) 2 – disyllabic
iii) 1 – monosyllabic
iv) 3 – trisyllabic
v) 2 – disyllabic
vi) 2 – disyllabic
Exercise – 10
i) particular
ii) handful
iii) apearance
iv) often
v) apartment
vi) idea
Answer:
i) 4 – polysyllabic
ii) 2 – disyllabic
iii) 3 – trisyllabic
iv) 2 – disyllabic
v) 3 – trisyllabic
vi) 2 – disyllabic